RESULTS: Printing on Acrylic and Glass Bead Gel

Picking up where I left off, now that the glass bead gel has completely dried I am ready to apply the Golden Digital Ground for Non-Porous Surfaces. Just a thin coat. This drizzle across the top of the shape is enough to pull down through the entire piece. Following the manufacturer's directions, first apply in one direction. Let dry completely. And then apply in the other direction (let's say down, and then across, make sense?).

During that oh-so-lovely drying time (non porous things don't have the benefit of airflow coming from anywhere but above, so get used to waiting), you can start to work on your digital element of this project. I chose a digital quick page design from Doris Castle's PULSE collection. I flipped the design horizontally, knowing that my foil work would cover up the silouhette's head otherwise. I added word art to the center frame and clipped the whole thing to the shape of my acrylic piece to save on ink.

Now that the piece is completely dry from the second coat of Digital Ground for Non-Porous Surfaces, I need to attach my acrylic page to a carrier sheet, so that it will feed into my printer easily.

Dry adhesives need not apply. Unlike many applications you may have seen, we are printing edge-to-edge. We are printing on a semi-rigid surface that has to bend as it feeds through the printer. We cannot use painter's tape to stick it down. Remember, at the very beginning of this project, I left the protective liner on the back of my acrylic piece? This is the 'why'. Now I can take my Helmar 450 and apply it to the back (smooth, un-artsified side) and drizzle it liberally near the edge and center of my acrylic shape to adhere it to the carrier sheet.

Let it dry – and you have no chance that this puppy is going to jump up and say, 'Hello!' to your print heads. Bend it a bit to test. If you're lucky and have a straight-through feed, such as on many of the Canon large-format printers (which is on my WANT list), then you have no worries. If, however, you have an Epson, you will be feeding it through the back, and it must bend. Be careful. Don't blame me if your lab experiment goes horribly wrong. CAVEAT PRINTER. 🙂

So now I've printed my design (and the printer survived). I peel the acrylic piece off the piece of cardstock and remove the protective backing off the wrong side of my acrylic shape.

It looks SO COOL. The ink detail is amazing.

See the little detail of the chain links?

And the translucent nature of the inkjet ink onto the glass bead gel surface lets all of the other elements shine through.

I think Bria is going to love this for her room.

I know I loved making it. I'd like to thank Jenn Mason, and her article in Cloth Paper Scissors "Gifts" for inspiring this experiment in the Studio Lab.

So remember to go pick up a copy of Cloth Paper Scissors "Gifts", for $14.99, it is a collectible, super-sized treasure at 148 pages and can be found at Barnes & Noble or JoAnn's.

You still have time to comment below and WIN A FREE ISSUE!! by Saturday, January 1st, 2011. I'd love to hear your comments on this topic:

What creative techniques and/or projects have you decided to tackle in the new year? How do you plan to take them on? Will you take an instructor-led workshop? Sign up for a course at an art school? Attend a retreat? Or just dig in to your own lab and learn as you go?

I'll append comments from this and yesterday's post for my drawing. Feel free to post your answers here, and I'll pick a winner on New Year's Day, Saturday, January 1st, 2011 right before midnight EST to kick off the start of 2011!

I’m on a use-what-I-own mission. I’m trying to adapt to inspiration as it hits with what is currently in my “studio”. It’s hard to do! I LOVE your stuff! LOVE the glass beads. It’s moments like these that I have to step away or else I run straight to Michael’s.

My commentment for the New Year is to finally learn to draw. I was a jewelry major at university and switched to weaving in grad school. I managed to do this with out any evidence of drawing skills. I intend to keep trying and I will finally ask my husband for help. He taught painting and drawing to under-grad and grad students at the U Of Windsor so he should be able to help me. I have been working all these years without him knowing of my fear of drawing.

Your “experiment” is gorgeous. I would love to try that. I have always wanted to have Cloth Paper Scissors magazine and love the chance to win one. I really want to use what I have and start an Art Journal. I am not artistic and would love to see what I can do.

I’m hoping to tackle a lot of the many projects lined up in my craft room. The bulk of them are acrylic paint based. I plan to follow written instructions. At some point I’ll go to a workshop or two.
Your project was awesome!! Looking forward to seeing more in 2011.

found you on art techniques. i’ve been meaning to try some of these & you have got me quite motivated! did want to let you know that there are Epsons with straight feeds- I have an R2400 that works like a dream, and the pigment inks are great for transfers. Happy 2011-

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About Sally Lynn MacDonald

Sally Lynn often mixes her love of creating and teaching art with her high-tech side – blending a love of handmade art with hybrid-digital media in what she playfully calls her ‘studio lab’. Every now and then her large-format printer is subjected to printing on a surface that definitely is not listed in the owners’ manual.

She is a maven for studio organization, using her abilities to use spreadsheets and databases to bring order from chaos. “It’s marvelous when the right and left brain actually work together in the studio!” Read More…